


i'll save a place for you

by WonderTwinC



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 10:31:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11057097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderTwinC/pseuds/WonderTwinC
Summary: She shouldn't be here.





	i'll save a place for you

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally started leading up to episode 5x10 of Arrow. I'm not a big fan of the idea of Black Siren but it is what it is. I've had this sitting around for awhile but decided to finish and edit it and post it.

She shouldn’t be here.

"Daddy," the words are out of her mouth before she can think better of it. Dinah's chest feels three sizes too small for her bruised heart that's attempting to beat it's way free. She gets one good look at his face, at his scruffy beard and slightly red-ringed eyes, and then his arms are wrapping around her shoulders and it feels more like home than the hug she shared with Oliver just hours ago.

Quentin pulls her tight to his chest and she buries her face against his shoulder as he whispers 'my baby girl' against the crown of her head over and over again. He smells like gunpowder and coffee and just the slightest hint of sandalwood. and for a moment she's wrapped up in his arms on another world as her life comes crashing down around them both.

"It's really you," he whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Dinah swallows past the unfamiliar tightness that settles in her throat and squeezes her eyes shut.

 "I missed you," she mumbles against his shoulder. Years of longing wrap themselves around those three words as he clings to her and her to him. Trembling hands are fisted around the black fabric of his coat, pressed tight to his back.

 For one desperate moment, she wishes that she was Laurel. His Laurel - the smiling girl she sees in the picture sitting next to the front door.

 Dinah doesn't remember the last time she smiled like that.

  _She shouldn't be here._

 Still, she holds tight to him, trying to commit to memory the way his arms feel wrapped around her. The scratch of his stubble against her forehead. The familiar smell of home that clings to his button up and reminds her better times.

 Happier ones.

 "I love you, sweetheart," Quentin murmurers as he presses another kiss to the top of her head. His voice is low and rough, tinged with desperate relief.

 She tightens her arms around him until it hurts. "I love you too.”


End file.
